After a 2-1 loss in Los Angeles on Monday night, the Calgary Flames once again had a nice response Wednesday at home to the Atlanta Blackhawks.  The Flames took a 3-1 win and improved their home record to 8-5 on the season, looking good after a sloppy first period of play.  The Flames moved back into top spot in the Northwest division as well, as Colorado fell 1-0 in Minnesota.

It was the first home game for the team in 2 weeks, as they went 4-2 on a season-long 6 game road trip.  Whether it was because they were back at home or not, it was an interesting first period, as Atlanta got off to a good start right from the get go, almost scoring in the opening seconds.  At one point, Atlanta held a 7-1 shot advantage, yet shots finished 11-9 in favor of Atlanta after 20.  As that opening frame rolled along, the Flames started to get their legs and started playing their game…it carried over into the second period, and that’s when Calgary did most of their damage.  In the final 40 minutes, the Flames had some real nice stretches of time where they were deep in Atlanta territory for long periods of time.  Sometimes it takes a little time to get things going, and it did tonight.

Miikka Kiprusoff is a stud, lets face it.  The fact that he can be as outstanding as he is when getting shelled is impressive…the fact that he’s just as good when he’s going for long stretches with a lot of action is even more impressive.  He made some outstanding saves on this night, including 2 on Ilya Kovalchuk…one that is very notable.  The guy makes sure leads stay leads, and is able to make sure deficits don’t get too large…he made 24 saves in a win over Atlanta.

Good to see Rene Bourque score that empty netter to put this thing away.  He was 100% snake bitten in the 2nd period, with three prime scoring opportunities not cashed in upon.  He missed a wide open net off a rebound, where he shot the puck halfway to Saskatchewan…yet it still missed.  He’s gradually getting back into the swing of things after missing a good amount of time.

Interesting story developing on the special teams front for the Flames…the powerplay is limping along, having scored just 7 times in 74 opportunities over the last 20 games.  In the last 4 games, Calgary has gone 0 for 16 on the man advantage…it has to be better.  However, the penalty kill has been incredible…the numbers and from what you see on the ice.  It is very rare to see the opposing teams get anything good going for too long when up a man, and Calgary has now allowed just 3 powerplay goals in their last 10 games…on 33 opportunities. That’s 91%.

The Flames win at home, they bounce back from a loss…and now they get set for the Wild on Friday night.  Follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/Steinberg960. 

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